The State Government on Thursday informed the Orissa High Court that at least four courts have already been designated as special courts with infrastructure and staffs for trial of the pending cases against the State’s sitting and former MPs and MLAs.
In an affidavit in response to the court’s suo motu writ petition, a Home Department Additional Secretary informed that two Additional District Judge Courts at Bhubaneswar and Brahmapur and two magisterial courts at Bhubaneswar and Sundargarh are to function as special courts.
The affidavit further said ten more such courts would be created as soon as the proposal is received from the High Court. The Government had earlier taken a decision to create the special courts, one each in three Revenue Divisions, and 11 JMFC courts for expeditious trial of the pending cases. “The Law Department has been requested to engage Special Public Prosecutors for each designated special court and all district Superintendent of Police have been requested to appoint Additional SPs as nodal officers to ensure service of summons to the witnesses and execution of warrants,” the affidavit mentioned.
The affidavit further disclosed a budget provision of Rs 36,60,360 at the supplementary stage has been placed with the E and IT Department to provide robust network connectivity in the High Court and District Courts to enhance the speed of internet connectivity as per the Orissa High Court Video Conferencing for Courts Rules-2020.